Gluten contamination in Sami's Bakery Products

cruelshoes · Joined: 23 Sep 2005 Posts: 3380 Location: Washington State

This bakery omes up quite regularly on the other celiac boards, but I haven't seen it come up on this one yet. I am posting this to warn people about this product.

Original Delphi Source

voix · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 160 Location: Colorado

What's the latest on this bakery? I was just recommended the millet/flax lavash from a nutritionist.

Is it safe to order? The min. order is $25, so I want to be sure.

Home-Based-Mom · Joined: 12 Aug 2008 Posts: 329 Location: California

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 10612 Location: WI, USA

Colleen, this testing appears to have been done in 2007 [I think during the height of the ruckus], did they discuss any later testing?

*No, I have not read the Delphi thread yet*
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

cruelshoes · Joined: 23 Sep 2005 Posts: 3380 Location: Washington State

This product is not available near me, so I haven't followed the issue. I can try to search Delphi and the ListServ to see if there is anything more recent. To be honest, unless they company provided independent testing to prove that their products contained no gluten, i wouldn't eat them.
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-Colleen

Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handcart?

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 10612 Location: WI, USA

Has anyone heard if Sami's still has CC/gluten issues with their bread?
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

rpf1007 · Joined: 13 Feb 2008 Posts: 708 Location: Chicago

This is so weird...I just got an update from a store in the western suburbs of Chicago today about this...This was in their newsletter.

"ANNOUNCEMENT CONCERNING SAMI'S BAKERY PRODUCTS

Effective immediately, Gluten-Free Grocery will no longer carry any products from Sami’s Bakery in Tampa, FL. This includes the following: Millet and Flax Bread, Plain Millet Bread, Millet Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Millet and Flax Hot Dog Buns, Millet and Flax Hamburger Buns, and Millet and Flax Pizza Crusts.

According to a Sami’s employee, their products were recently tested for gluten and they came back higher than the standard 20ppm.

As a result, we cannot continue to suggest to our customers that this is a gluten-free product.

Please note, the product ingredients do not contain gluten, but the cross-contamination of their facility is what increased the number.

According to the same employee, they are not considering creating a dedicated gluten-free facility.

We know this is disappointing to many of our customers and we are actively searching for other high quality bread products that you can enjoy. We expect to have those on our shelves in the very near future.

Gluten-Free Grocery is commited to providing safe products for our customers. Knowing that ingredients and facilities change with regularity, we consistently review our products to insure our product line remains within the standard accepted definition of gluten-free. When we find that changes have occured, we will immediately pull the product from our inventory and announce the change to our customers. We believe that is always the right thing to do."
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Rachel

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 10612 Location: WI, USA

Thanks Rachel! I am passing this info on.
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

jsb · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 62 Location: Florida

Sami's bread is sold in a local store here. The label states something about it containing wheat and/or gluten as a warning (not in the ingredients). Same thing for Deland bakery products, also sold in the same store. I was eating the Deland bread with not problem, but I think I'm now having noticeable reactions to even smaller amounts recently, and I started having problems with the Deland bread. I have not tried the Sami's because they all have rice in them, but I wouldn't recommend risking it after my experience with the other.
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Jen
GF since 10/07

Fidissimus · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 1881 Location: Portland, OR.

I haven't seen their stuff but I'll be sure to pass on the info as well just in case someone local might buy their products.
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Cheers!
Jenn

GF BD: Feb. 2001
Free of wheat, barley, rye, oats, dairy, eggs, almonds, pineapple and brewers yeast.
http://graindamaged.blogspot.com/

yllana · Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 1

I talked to Sammi at his bakery in Tampa. He will say his bread is not gluten free because he bakes normal bread and his line is contaminated. He will only say this if you ask him about gluten free testing.
It is not safe to eat, it is not gluten free.
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Ellie in Tampa Bay

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 10612 Location: WI, USA

Hi Ellie,

Welcome to the board and thanks for the tidbit of info.
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

gfpagan · Joined: 15 May 2009 Posts: 29 Location: Illinois

Egads, I JUST placed an order through them after purchasing them from a local store that I moved farther away from. I called and emailed telling them to cancel, hopefully it goes smoothly.
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~Erin~
gluten free since 4/13/2009

Getting married 5/1/2010

MamaG · Joined: 27 Aug 2009 Posts: 4

I have been eating Sami's breads since going gluten-free (about two years now) and never had a problem. However, just yesterday, I ate a lot of it about five pieces (french toast in the morning and then sandwich. . .) and am having a reaction all yesterday and today. The packaging used to say that it was made in a factory that processed wheat and now I notice it says that it does contain gluten (printed just like an allergy warning). And after reading this thread I am going to stop eating Sami's and hope my problem clears up. My son hasn't reacted but then again he didn't eat more than one slice of it. I am so bummed, I loved Sami's. Any other suggestion for good bread? I'll even take a recipe suggestion because I do have a bread maker- I just don't use it.

LucyGoose · Joined: 14 Sep 2009 Posts: 111 Location: N.W. Indiana

I was recommended to try this bread......I bought 2 loafs....one was the cinnamon raisin.....when I read the back it said something like it *could* have wheat. I called the health food store I got it and they didn't know that.....(this is not my regular health food store).....I took it back......I eat the Rice Pecan by Food for Life.....I wished Sami's wasn't like that as I hear it really is good bread.